There’s something about being young that makes you believe that you’re indestructible. I can’t be all that critical of the feeling, because when I was a youth, I ate so many Doritos my corpse will never decompose. At least I had the sense not to climb to the top of a 900-foot-tall construction crane. That’s just stupid. But that’s just what a youthful “urban explorer” codenamed Ugly Steffy...

As Chicago’s skyline transforms itself once again, it’s easy to get a little crick in your neck looking up all the time. So, instead it’s better to look out. As in this view looking out from NEMA Chicago, taken by Joe Zekas of YoChicago! last week. It shows the progress of the Vista Tower in Lakeshore East in the foreground, with One Bennett Park in Streeterville in the background. Unlike most cities which have a...

If you’ve spent the last eight years waiting for someone to drive the final nail into The Chicago Spire’s coffin, Related Midwest is your carpenter. Tonight the River North real estate developer pulled the cloak off of a duo of towers it plans to erect at the site of Chicago’s most magnificent hole — 400 Lake Shore Drive. 400 is an SOM design crafted by David Childs, known mostly for his work on such New York...

You’d expect a building with the statue of One Bennett Park (451 East Grand Avenue) to offer incredible views. Now we can see just how incredible. In the photograph above of the construction of the 836-foot-tall One Bennett Park, taken from One Grant Park by Joe Zekas of YoChicago!, we can see a huge portion of the tower rising above Streeterville and Lakeshore East, gazing upon Grant Park. We also see that the amazing view...

We just can’t get enough of One Bennett Park, the Related Midwest luxury tower that’s bringing a taste of Gotham to Streeterville. Fortunately, we don’t need ISO 12312-2 certified eyewear to gaze upon this star of downtown Chicago’s construction solar system. Joe Zekas of YoChicago! sent in the drool-worthy photograph above showing the Robert A.M. Stern joint is about to eclipse its next-door neighbor, 500 Lake...

Streeterville’s newest skyscraper is making its presence known in the neighborhood skyline. New photos sent in by Joe Zekas over at YoChicago! show One Bennett Park has reached at least its 40th floor, and is probably taller than that by the time you read this. 1BP, as its friends call it, will eventually reach 70 stories, and over 820 feet in height. Along with Building I at Lakeshore East, and the Vista Tower, it is among...

It’s not exactly a secret that One Bennett Park is one of our favorite recent projects in Chicago. It’s tall. It’s different-looking (for Chicago). It’s in Streeterville. What’s not to like? So it just seemed natural that we broke out the last three leftover New Year’s party poppers and microwaved some Totinos pizza rolls when we received word last week that construction has reached a milestone:...

I consider myself a tech-savvy guy. I had an e-mail address before there was an internet. When I leave my house, robots wake up and clean my floors. Thanks to a homebrew home automation system, I haven’t touched a light switch in a year. Even the eggs in my refrigerator are networked, and send me text messages when they’re going to expire. But I could never get behind the notion that strapping a cell phone to my face...

The residential skyscraper soon to rise 451 East Grand Avenue has architecture enthusiasts as excited as… well, a turtle in a shower. Go ahead and play the video above if you don’t believe me. It’s perfectly safe for work. There are a number of reasons they’re doing a turtle dance over One Bennett Park. The building’s height. The building’s location. The building’s height combined with...

Who doesn’t love One Bennett Park? Well, the people about to lose their views. But aside from them, it seems like Chicago’s entire skyscraper nerd community is looking forward to seeing Related Midwest’s huge 843-foot-tall building rise almost, but not quite, on Chicago’s lakefront. We’ll be among the photographers front and center (or more likely, renting a helicopter) when the building designed by...